Hepatic disorders, in particular those caused by viral infections, are a major health problem and the successful treatment of hepatic diseases poses a great challenge to the medical profession. With respect to hepatic diseases caused by viral infection, currently patients in advanced stages of the infection cycle (chronic hepatitis) with, for example, hepatitis C virus are treated with Interferon ("IFN") with only about 25% success rate. IFN is not readily available to patients and a six-month course of IFN therapy costs about $3000. It also gives rise to several side-effects such as severe flu symptoms, lethargy, hair loss and undesirable tastes in the mouth. IFN acts against the virus via the immune system and does not reverse any physiological abnormalities or damage caused by the infection eg. hepatic cirrhosis, diminished spleen function, etc. Furthermore, as there is a number of hepatic disorders which are not caused by viral infection, the administration of INF to patients with non-viral hepatic disorders would be ineffective.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an effective method of and medication for, treatment of both viral and non-viral hepatic disorders which avoids or at least ameliorates one or more of the disadvantages of current treatments.